tiest that ever was," said Uli; "she's thin and
sickly; but she'll surely get better when she has a husband, the doctor
says; and she'll get fifty thousand."

"Does she still loll around the house, or does she take hold with the
housekeeping?" asked Johannes.

"She doesn't do much work and isn't in the kitchen very often; but she
can knit finely and makes all sorts of pretty things with beads. But if
she gets the farm some time we could afford a cook. If she only looks
after things now and then, she doesn't need to do everything herself,"
said Uli.

"Ye-up, but to look after things you have to know how yourself; it's
foolish to think that if a woman just looks at something, that's all
that's necessary. For instance, a woman can sit all day in a drug-store
with her knitting, but that won't keep the apprentices from doing as
they please. And I thought she looked rather ugly and scowled at a
person instead of giving him a friendly word."

"She does have failings," said Uli, "and is mighty sensitive too. But if
she once has a good husband and has enough to do to keep her busy, so
that she could forget herself now and then, she'd surely improve. Not
that she can't ever be friendly. She can act very prettily at times;
and if the farm's properly worked one can get at least ten thousand
sheaves from it, not counting rye and wheat."

"That's a lot," said Johannes, "and there aren't many more such farms in
the canton. But if you gave me the choice between a good farm and a bad
wife, or neither, I'd take the latter a hundred times over. To be rich
is nice, but riches aren't happiness; and to have a hateful sour woman
at home, that either turns up her nose or bawls at everything, would
make a home for the devil to live in. And if a man has to look for his
pleasure outside his house, he's badly off."

"But master," said Uli, "you always told me to save and be thrifty, and
then I'd be somebody; that the man who had nothing was nothing."

"Quite right, Uli," said the master, "that's what I said and what I
still say. A man is happier when thrifty than when extravagant, and he's
no man if he can't provide for his old age while he's young and single.
If a man doesn't begin well while he's young he'll come to a bad end. A
good lad with some money can marry more easily than a vagabond, and
should look for a good wife; but the richest isn't always the best. Some
women I'd rather take without a farthing than others with a hundred
fra